Content marketing is a big trend right now. Big businesses are investing thousands of dollars into expensive services that promise that everything content marketing-related will be handled in one software.
However, that software never delivers what their huge price promises. They try to pack everything into a single software and sacrifice the flexibility and quality that the content could have with more apps. Understandably, this concept is compelling but faulty.
Especially for small teams or one-man businesses where there is not much money or human resources to be invested in content marketing. This is why most small businesses think that content marketing is not really possible for them. Content marketing takes time and effort that small businesses can’t really dedicate to it with all other things that they have to do.
However, content marketing is more than possible for them as well.
It’s all a matter of knowing how to do it. A one-man team can succeed in having a good content marketing strategy that works well for them and their business.
Here is how you can achieve this:
Repurpose and Repeat
Don’t just let content from your email campaigns die in some inbox – change it a bit and adapt it to fit the blog post format. You can do this with all kinds of old content that haven’t been used on the blog but also with the content that has been used. Find old articles that you posted that are no longer relevant and change them to get a fresh and new piece that could attract new users.
You can also repost old, popular posts on social media or as a part of a roundup, an email reminder of good content that the user might have missed and so on.
Finally, check all of your content and its performance at least once a year to get a better insight into what worked and what didn’t. Update the posts you can update and make relevant for current audiences, repost the content that received a lot of attention and discard the content that was unsuccessful. But first, gather information on why it didn’t work and try not to repeat it while at the same time repeating what worked.
Outsource
You can basically outsource any task today and you should. For instance, you can hire a good freelance writer for a little money on UpWork or Fiverr to create all of the content for your site.
You can also use content curation as a way to get good content in front of your readers cheaply.
“Hire a VA to handle your emails and other tasks instead of you. You can also hire a person to take care of your social media profiles and so on. Automation is another way to outsource your tasks and focus on what truly matters”, – explains James Peterson, a Content Strategist at Bigassignments.
Automate
Just like outsourcing, automation gives you free time to do things that really drive your business forward. And there are so many options out there.
Email Automation tools are probably something you already use. There are great options for this like MailChimp, Constant Contact and so on.
There are also plenty of automation tools to automate your social media posts, schedule your WordPress posts, track your stats, gather leads and so on.
Get Managed Hosting
Managed hosting is a bit more expensive option than the regular, cheap host g but the quality it provides, in turn, is something that should not be compromised. Your site can run more smoothly, seamlessly while remaining safe and secure in processing user data and so on.
Consider it an investment rather than an expense.
Play on Familiarity
Familiar content templates aren’t boring and predictable. Contrary to the popular fear of website owners, it’s simply that – familiar. It gives users something to expect and they barely even notice it as it is.
On the other hand, it makes your process so much easier and simpler if you know what your next steps in writing are.
Plan Everything
Use checklists and an editorial calendar to make your life easier. For instance, write out a complete checklist for what you should do before sharing on Pinterest or Facebook and follow it to the letter. Create one for each action. It may take some time at first but it can pay off in more free time later.
Use Online Content Tools
With content marketing for small business, it`s not just a matter of writing it but also of making it look presentable and readable for the consumers. However, this is a lot of work. Proofreading, editing, formatting and so on can all take up a lot of time for necessary but small changes.
But just like you use tools and plugins for many other things, you can also use some tools for managing your content accuracy and readability.
Here are some of those tools:
- Stateofwriting / Viawriting are content editing and proofreading guides which can help you reduce the time you spend on these tasks by as much as 25% which could mean a lot in the busy internet world.
- PaperFellows is an online content editing tool that helps with all of the style and syntax mistakes so you don`t have to spend hours reading and rereading your content in order to notice what doesn`t work. It checks everything and delivers prompt results.
- Academ Advisor / UKWritings are content formatting tools. Since formatting on WordPress can be a bit tricky. Especially with the new Gutenberg editor and the blocks that the users are normally not used to. You can just paste a formatted content that Yoast will accept as perfect for SEO.
- Boomessays is a tool that is perfect for checking grammar and giving tips according to this Boomessays review. Utilize it while writing your text or after you have already finished.
Mywritingway / Study demic are proofreading tools which can handle anything from misspelled words to the words that just don’t fit in and grammar mistakes. - Essayroo is a tool used to generate catchy headings, subheadings and so on for your content.
Make Use of WordPress Plugins
WordPress Plugins that you should definitely use are:
All of these play together yet separate to ensure that your website ranks well. Start off by doing keyword research, move on to writing a text that involves that keyword appropriately with Yoast and then use various automation tools to post the content and share it on social media. Send it out with your newsletter Automation tool, track content performance with Monster Insights and capture leads with WP forms or OptinMonster.